Chapter 131.1
On the first day of school, Gu Jiao actually had some worries about Xiao Liulang and Little Jing Kong.
Little Jing Kong was too young. Facing a completely unfamiliar environment and a group of prodigies with minds as good as his, Gu Jiao wasn’t sure what kind of psychological reaction he would have in the private elementary school.
As for Xiao Liulang, he was being targeted by someone. She didn’t know whether the other party would do anything to make things difficult for Xiao Liulang while in the Imperial Academy.
Unexpectedly, at the end of the day, Little Jing Kong and Xiao Liulang were fine, but something happened to Gu Yan instead.
The cause of the incident began before Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun entered their cla.s.s.
The two had the same foundation and were a.s.signed to the same cla.s.s.
Qinghe Academy was a school with excellent teachers, so many sons of n.o.blemen and high-ranking officials came here to study, and these included the two young masters of the Marquis Ding"an Estate—— Gu Chengfeng and Gu Chenglin.
There used to be a lot of former Imperial Academy students in Qinghe Academy before. But now that the Imperial Academy had reopened, everyone went back to study in the Imperial Academy, creating a sudden number of vacancies in Qinghe Academy, so Gu Chengfeng and Gu Chenglin also managed to enroll together.
However, both of them were older than Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun, and their knowledge was higher than the two. Hence, they were a.s.signed to another cla.s.s.
The two cla.s.ses just so happened to face each other, only separated by a small garden.
Gu Chenglin was waiting for his second brother, Gu Chengfeng, in the garden when Gu Yan walked past him with a book bag in his arms.
Gu Chenglin looked at Gu Yan"s face and thought it looked familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere. Then he heard someone calling him, "Gu Yan!"
Gu Yan, Gu Yan, wasn"t that their sickly brother Gu Yan?
No wonder he looked familiar. He looked like their father!
Gu Chenglin knew that Yao shi"s twin children had also come to the capital, but they didn"t go back to the estate and were living outside. He didn’t expect to run into him so soon!
Strange though. Didn"t the physician say that this little sickly guy couldn’t live longer than fifteen years? Then why was he still alive and kicking when he was already fifteen?
Gu Chenglin whizzed over and blocked Gu Yan"s way, saying, "You. Your name is Gu Yan?"
Gu Yan was only four years old when he left the capital. He didn"t remember what his family looked like, so he didn"t recognize Gu Chenglin.
But this didn’t prevent Gu Yan from detecting Gu Chenglin"s malice.
Gu Yan slightly furrowed his brows and asked, "You are?"
Gu Chenglin rudely poked Gu Yan on the shoulder with his finger and said arrogantly, "Boy, I asked you something first, so you"d better answer honestly. Is your name Gu Yan?"
Gu Yan was not frightened by his intimidating manner, and simply looked at him without fear as he replied, "So what if it is? So what if it"s not? What are you going to do?"
Gu Chenglin was annoyed by his composed appearance. Gu Chenglin originally planned that if he was that sickly younger brother of his, he would properly sort him out. If he was not, then he would let him go.
But now, Gu Chenglin changed his mind.
This boy was actually not intimidated by him, and even had the guts to glare at him!
Very good, if he didn’t give him some color to see, he wouldn’t know who he was dealing with!
Gu Xiaoshun, who had gone to the Academic Affairs Office to pick up his own and Gu Yan’s books, found Gu Yan nowhere upon heading back for their cla.s.sroom.
He looked for him in the latrine, but there was no sign of Gu Yan there either.
Gu Xiaoshun asked his cla.s.smates, but everyone just started school on the same day and didn"t know each other yet.
Gu Xiaoshun scratched his head, "Did he go to get the books himself? That can’t be, ah. I told him to just wait for me."
Gu Xiaoshun thought of Gu Yan"s heart disease and secretly wondered if Gu Yan had fainted somewhere.
"Hey, just now I saw your brother go to the backyard."
Just as Gu Xiaoshun was about to suffer from excessive internal heat due to anxiousness, a poor-looking student in shabby clothes called him cautiously.
The student didn"t dare tell him that Gu Yan was taken away by a young master of an upper cla.s.s family. He was afraid of getting into trouble himself so he only said a little reminder, "You should go and find him quickly, and don"t say I told you."
"Oh, thanks a lot, brother!" Gu Xiaoshun didn"t think much, patted the other party on the shoulder and strode to the backyard of the academy.
At this time, Gu Yan was dragged into the woodshed at the backyard of the academy by Gu Chenglin and several of his friends.
n.o.body usually came to this woodshed.
Gu Chenglin had Gu Yan tied up, gagged him with a cloth, and locked him in the dark woodshed.
Gu Yan was locked up by his own older brother in a dark room.
This brought forth his childhood fear.
When he was four years old, he was once locked in a dark and narrow room. He cried miserably, until finally he couldn"t even shed any tears.
That kind of fear and despair couldn’t be forgotten no matter how long pa.s.sed.
Gu Yan landed on the dirty and cold floor, only feeling that there was an invisible hand pressing his chest in the dark, and he began to breathe laboriously.
The dark guards that the Old Marquis a.s.signed to his side were sent by him to do something else and were not around him these days.
Otherwise, Gu Changqing would have guessed his ident.i.ty through the Old Marquis" dark guards the last time they had met.
Gu Chenglin and his party had long left the backyard; it was as though no one had been there.
Gu Yan uttered a desperate cry.
Unfortunately, no one could hear his voice.
Gu Xiaoshun, who had been br.i.m.m.i.n.g with anxiety, exclaimed, "Oh, where on earth is Gu Yan? Gu Yan! Gu Yan!”
Gu Yan heard Gu Xiaoshun"s shouts. He struggled, but he was unable to make Gu Xiaoshun hear him.
Gu Xiaoshun"s voice gradually got distant again.
Gu Yan desperately continued struggling on the ground, trying to move to the door, but then he felt a sudden acute pain in his heart!
He was having a heart attack!
His sister gave him medicine, but...
He couldn’t take it.
Gu Jiao, who was sitting in the carriage, felt her heart ache all of a sudden.
"Please hurry up!" She urged the coachman.
"All right!" The coachman pushed the speed to the extreme, but the last thing Gu Jiao wanted to see happened.
"The Crown Princess is pa.s.sing this way, everyone make way—"
The whole street was filled with imperial guards holding some wooden signboards to keep people away, and the carriage Gu Jiao was riding was also blocked!
At this moment, Gu Yan felt like he was going to die.
He was lying sideways on the ground with his hands and feet tied up. After struggling so much, he had lost all his strength. He was afraid to think of his unknown outcome in this darkness, and could only sob, "Sister, I’m in pain."
On the way back to the cla.s.sroom, one of Gu Chenglin"s friends asked, "Third Young Master Gu, will something happen to that boy?"
Gu Chenglin, without a care, replied, "What can happen to him? Haven"t you seen him alive and kicking? Let’s just lock him up for a few hours and give him a long memory! See if he still dares to glare at me again when he sees me next time!"